Scope

Soft Matter provides a unique forum for the communication of fundamental science underpinning the behaviour of soft matter. There is a particular focus on the interface between physics, materials science, biology, chemical engineering and chemistry.

Soft Matter Lectureship

This Lectureship recognises early career researchers, within 12 years of their PhD, who have made a significant contribution to the field of soft matter.

This award is presented annually. Nominations open in late autumn and close in late winter. The winner is announced in the spring.

Nominations are welcome from anyone, and are to be sent to the Editorial Office with a brief CV and letter supporting the nomination.

Nominations are then shortlisted and the winner selected by the Soft Matter Editorial Board.

The recipient of this award receives: a contribution of £1,000 to support the presentation of the recipients research at an international conference. Also, a framed certificate and an invitation to submit a research article to Soft Matter, which, if accepted, will be showcased free of charge on the front cover.

Article types

Communications

Communications in Soft Matter contain novel scientific work of such importance and interest that rapid publication is required. Communications are concise and should not exceed four journal pages (~2000 words) in length; they may be accompanied by supplementary material. Communications start with a brief unreferenced abstract and do not contain any section headings. A short justification statement must be included with the submission outlining why the work merits rapid publication.

Full papers

Full papers in Soft Matter present original, high quality primary research that has not been previously published. Full papers start with a brief unreferenced abstract and contain an introduction, results and discussion, experimental, and notes and references sections. A short justification statement must be included with the submission outlining why the study will appeal to the broad, interdisciplinary readership of the journal, and what fundamental issues it addresses.

Reviews

Review articles in Soft Matter are normally submitted by invitation. The purpose of a Review is to bring the reader up to date with research in a particular field. Since the readership of Soft Matter is wide ranging, it is essential that the Review is easily comprehensible to a non-specialist in the field. Authors are encouraged to identify areas in the field where further developments are imminent or of urgent need, and any areas (such as techniques) that may be of significance to the soft matter community in general. Please note that Reviews in Soft Matter may NOT contain any original research.

Highlights

Highlights single out important new developments and explain the significance of the work to the broad, interdisciplinary Soft Matter audience. They may point out further urgent follow-up work and challenges, and may be speculative in nature. No unpublished work should be presented; these papers are intended to put existing work into perspective. Highlights are typically no longer than 2,000 words.

Emerging areas

Emerging areas in Soft Matter are short, personal accounts of a potentially important and growing new field of research. They are typically up to 3,000 words in length and include a short biography of the author(s). Emerging areas should not contain unpublished data.

Opinions

Opinions in Soft Matter are typically 2,000 words in length and provide a personal, often speculative, viewpoint or hypothesis on a topic of current interest to the scientific community. They may concern recent publications in Soft Matter or discuss any current hot topic from the author's point of view; provided that they are not defamatory to the work of others they can be controversial and stimulate counter-opinion. They can include a short biography of the author(s).

Tutorial reviews

Tutorial reviews are a type of review that provide an essential introduction to a particular area of soft matter. The article should have particular appeal to younger researchers and established researchers seeking new fields to explore. Tutorial reviews should be typically up to 6,000 words in length and include a short biography of the author(s). Tutorial reviews should not contain unpublished data.

Comments

Comments are a medium for the discussion and exchange of scientific opinions normally concerning material published in Soft Matter. Submitted Comments will normally be forwarded to the authors of the work being discussed, and these authors will be given the opportunity to submit a Reply for publication together with the Comment. For publication of a Comment or Reply, they must be judged to be scientifically significant and of interest to the Soft Matter readership.

Comments should not be a personal attack on an individual or group of individuals and will undergo the usual peer-review process. Comments will not normally exceed a length of one printed journal page. Publication will take place only when all parties have had an opportunity to respond appropriately.

Perspectives

Perspectives are intended to be short, high-profile articles that present a state-of-the-art account of an area of current interest to the soft matter community. They may take the form of personal accounts of research or a critical analysis of activity in a specialist area. By their nature they will not be comprehensive reviews of a particular field. Perspectives are normally published by invitation, though suggestions from authors are welcome. Enquiries regarding the submission of Perspectives should be directed to the Editor. Since the readership of Soft Matter is wide-ranging, the article should be easily comprehensible to a non-specialist in the field, whilst at the same time providing an authoritative discussion of the area concerned.

Article templates

To help authors publish their research with us we host our Soft Matter LaTeX template in the Overleaf authoring tool. Overleaf simplifies LaTeX authorship by enabling collaborators to easily prepare and edit their manuscripts with realtime format previewing, simple document sharing and collaboration, and user support and LaTeX help.

With one-click, the PDF of your manuscript and a ZIP file of the LaTeX source files are sent directly to the Soft Matter submission system without the need to download and re-upload files, making the process quicker and easier.